Lilian Katz, a trailblazer in the field of early childhood education, will be featured on WILL-TV's "Illinois Pioneers" program at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, September 12. WILL's David Inge interviewed Katz—a professor, international speaker, author, and renowned scholar. The show's producers described her as "quite remarkable" and they say viewers will be surprised at what she has to say.

In the interview, they talk about how volunteering at her children's cooperative nursery school introduced her to child development. She describes what children should learn in preschool, how the project approach of early education encourages learning, and what she thinks of standardized testing and computers in the classroom.

Children learn by reasoning, observing, arguing, and trying things, Katz told Inge.

"When children are investigating something around them in great detail, they get so interested in it because they're naturally nosy," she said.

Learn more about Katz's background and the WILL interview.

Katz is professor emerita of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois and co-director of the Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative–Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

Katz's past research has focused on developmental stages of teachers; mixed-age grouping; teacher-parent relations; teacher education; self-esteem vs. narcissism; gender differences and pedagogy; and dispositions, their development and assessment. Her current research projects include project approach implementation and issues in mixed-age grouping.

See another College News article about Katz, in which she talks about being considered a pioneer in her field.